Loose Ends
by monomeggy
Summary: An esteemed assassin from the Dark Brotherhood finds herself in the unlikely position of being summoned to a different realm. Now bound to an elven mage, she will do whatever it takes to keep her alive and return home to Skyrim. Will her thirst for blood cause a rift between her and her new companions? Or will they set their differences aside and save the world from darkness?
1. Chapter 1

Loose ends

Chapter 1 : Contracted into a portal

I could smell the blood in the air, it surrounded me, enveloping me in it´s scent. The bodies that circled me ,torn and bloodied by my sharp blades, were mercenaries hired to protect an oblivion worshipper. An elf I was contracted to kill.

My dry lips parted as my red eyes narrowed in on the pooling blood beneath the bodies,the mercenaries weren´t that much trouble to deal with, it was the hunger that plauged me at the sight of their life blood that had me pausing.

This hunger was an ever present thirst, always straining against my contorl, against the humanity I held onto with a vice grip because without it I´d be nothing more than a rabid animal looking for it´s next meal. The thirst made my throat ache and my mind more unfocused the longer I went without feeding.

I´d need to feed soon, hopefully some bandit would do me the honor of donating some blood on my way back to Sanctuary, on my way back home. Or maybe our dear oblivion worshipper wouldnt mind having a bloodletting.

I tore my gaze away from the crimson liquid, I could hear something .There was a voice, a whisper echoing throughout the cave like a melody of harsh tones. My eyes closed ,ears straining in the silence listening for the dunmer. I grinned, fangs showing. He wasn´t far, his chanting echoing in the few tunnels of the dimely lit cave.

My footfalls were silent as I followed the growing voice of the dunmer. And ,as I crept the through tunnels, I briefly wondered why dark elves liked such dreary places. Perhaps it was the lack of civilization or the quiet or maybe, just maybe, they just liked damp, dark tunnels filled with creepy giant spiders. The mere thought of the large aracnids made me shudder, thankfully I hadn´t come across any in this cave.

I stuck to the shadows instinctivly as I snuck closer to where the target was, ever weary of unwanted company, it would be unfortunate to encounter more of them so close to the dunmer.

I made it to a badly made wooden door, the dunmers voice now easily heard even by normal men. My red eyes glanced about the tunnels one last time , looking for any more unwanted company, before easily slipping past a wooden door .The dunmers back was to me as he stood on a stone pedestal, reading from a sinister looking tome, facing the opposite wall. His ragged black robes were stained and smelled something awful making my nose scrunch up, I tried not to dwell on the stench as she crept closer.

The curved dagger in my gloved hand glistend with blood in the candle light as tip-toed closer to him, easily avoiding books and bones abandoned on the floor. Once I was behind him, I stood quickly , plunging my blade into his back ,severing his spinal cord ,and wrapped my free hand around his mouth to muffle the scream that was sure to come .

Grinning a little too widely,I leaned in close to his pointed ear even as he struggled against me and whispered "The Night Mother sends her regards" before twisting the blade and sinking my teeth into his frail neck. Without my hand covering his mouth his scream surely would have been a screeching melody to my sensitive ears, alas I didnt want to risk being caught and tightened my grip around his mouth as he struggled in vain against me. His legs gave out beneath him as he bled,his flailing arms subsided and his gasping breath ended . His dead eyes looked up at me ,his face twisted into one of agony as I let his corpse fall to the ground carelessly.

My smile was blood stained and my chuckle haunting as I licked the red from my lips, he would be nothing more than a rotting corpse to all those who explored this cave. Ignoring his now blood stained attire ,me knelt down and retrieved my blade. I wiped the blood off on the back of the dunmers robes before standing up and put it securely back onto the back of my belt. I knelt down next to the elf and gently closed his blank eyes. Death was something I was used to, especially now. It was around every corner and followed me like an old friend, it was something I had been doing for years but it was only recently that I started to enjoy it.

Smiling I tugged up my mouth piece to cover as much of my face as possible and made sure the hood was still in place, it should be noon outside the sun would be high in the sky. I stood up ,the contract had been fufilled and it was time to leave this cave and return home. And hopefully find an inn to bathe in.

It was only as I tried to leave that I took notice of something, it was more of a smell that made me turn back around. The scent was crisp, clean even, like a cool winter breeze. The smell itself was not strange but where it was was. It was rather odd that I should find such a scent in a murky, blood-splattered cave.

However, even as I turned to catch sight of what was emitting the smell it started to feel like I had decided to step outside when the sun was at its highest peak in summer...compleatly naked, not a great idea for a vampire. Something was changing the room or ... perhaps it was I that was changing. My vision blurred and my knees buckled as if the ground were moving.

Closing my eyes , I felt my whole being move like I was being squeezed through a crack entierly too small for my body, constricting me as it pulled me to the ground and then I heard something , a whisper in the dark.

Protect her .


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Thrust into a new world.

Neria Surana fell back onto the hard tiled floor as her staff snapped in two, her shoulder and chest burned painfully as an abominations long, pointed claws sunk deep into her flesh and tore her blue robes, staining them red.

She looked past the abomination with tears blurring her emerald eyes, there were so many of them... too many of them.

Alistair was busy fending off the large and brutish pride demon, his shield bashing against the beasts arms and hands as he tried to topple it over. And Wynn was busy encased in a protective barrier reading from the Litany, her voice eching off the walls in an attempt to save all the mages she could.

Surana had done her best to protect her felow warden throwing fire balls where she could but she had left herself defensless and unprotected in an attempt to draw the abominations away from Alistair so he could focus on the pride demon.

Her mana was depleted and her body exhausted and bleeding profusely. Abominations lay dead and charred across the harrowing chamber, the place where she was tested and almost killed. She didnt want to die here, not after all she had been through, not at the hands of the thing she swore she´d never become.

Her breath came in sharp ragged gasps as she dragged herself away from the abominations, her chest and shoulder flaring in pain with every movement. There had to be something she could do, anything she could get her hands on.

Her hand reached behind her, feeling for the sachel she had brought with her in hopes of finding something, anything. Parchment touch her finger tips, it was risky but the only chance she had at surviving this with both Alistair and Wynn occupied.

Her dainty hands grasped the scroll unraveling it with haste, the script was in elvhen and she understood little of it, the words long lost in history even to the Dalish. However two words stood out most to her, _protector_ and _elven,_ she prayed and begged to whatever god would listen that this small parchment she found in Irvings study would work as she spoke rushed words so foreing to her.

Her large green eyes danced with dark spots as she muttered the last word, sapping the last of her mana and leaving her weak and powerless. Through darkening sight she saw someone appear between her and the nearing abomination a dagger shinning in their hand before her eyes closed and she lost conscienceness.

My eyes snapped open as air was rushed back into my lungs, there was a vaguely humanoid being right infront of me it´s stench revolting and wrong. My eyes narrowed, it smelled forced… changed, corrupt even.

I had only a moment to look at the disgusting pink melted flesh of it´s face before it´s twisted arm lurched towards me. My left arm shot out blocking it´s attack as my right hand swiftly took hold of the hilt of my dagger and plunged it into the soft skin of it´s under-jaw, digging it´s way into the abominations skull.

I didn´t have time to ponder what it was I just killed or why it attacked me, all that mattered was the fact that I had killed one and it had friends. There were two more of them to my left, just as grotesque as the first, and one large purple horned ogre with a sharply scaled and muscled body. There was a heavily armored nord attacking it to the best of his ability, his arm shaking with every blow he blocked and his stance wavering with every swing of his sword.

I grabbed my second dagger as the distorted creatures crept closer in a rushed shuffle, my stance pausing as the scent of blood reached my nose.

Someone was bleeding? I glanced to the side seeing a light blue barrier, behind it was a nord mage chanting the words from a long scroll, it appeared to protect those injured behind her. More mages by the look of them.

But the scent of blood was closer, it smelled tainted, poisonous but not wrong like these twisted creatures. It smelled more like a sickness. An echoing growl brought me back to the scene at hand, the abominations were closer now.

I gripped my daggers tightly, the blades pointed towards the ground as I ran forward and dodged under the first abominations arm as it´s clawed hand came slashing towards me. It´s movements slow in comparison to my own and I found myself grinning at the prospect of having the advantage against these unknown creatures.

I forced my heel into the second creature and kicking off of its chest, I bounced back towards the first abomination, dagger plunging into the back of it´s skull with a shuddering force before it even had the chance to turn around. The second one stumbled back with a snarl and lunged forward giving me no time to pull my dagger free. I jumped to the right and out of it´s trajectory with a predatory hiss of my own, it turned to face me yet again as I steeled my stance waiting for it to get closer.

It charged in my direction arms spread wide, claws tense and ready for me to dodge, only I didn´t, instead I stayed still as it got closer and closer until it was arms length away and then I grabbed it´s clawed hand grimacing at the somewhat slimy texture as one of it´s nail teared through the cloth of my armour while I used it´s own momentum to swing it into a column, my dagger soon followed and impaled it´s deformed melted face.

With that done I couldn´t stop the grin stretching across my mouth even as I glanced behind me to find something that caused my eyes to narrow and my brows to furrow, the voice from before echoed in my mind as I saw the small crumpled form of an elf bleeding on the floor.

 _Protect her._

I stepped towards her without knowing why and soon found myself rushing to her side as the amount of blood she´d lost became apparent. I knelt by her side my hands immediately going to her chest in an attempt to stop the blood from escaping her small body.

It was times like these I wished I knew more about magika and how to heal others, I had only had to worry about such a thing once before in my younger days but hadn´t bothered to learn it due to my becoming a vampire, now I found myself trying to heal something I didn´t even comprehend how to heal.

Healing oneself is much easier than healing another, I know my own body and what is wrong when I am injured but her, this small elf girl I didn´t know... I couldn´t heal her properly, the most I could do was stop some of the bleeding but even that wasn't much. I needed a healer or a health potion, perhaps one of the injured mages was a healer.

My hand snapped to my belt remembering my attire, a row of potions were attached by fine pieces of leather on the side of my belt but only one of them was a restoration potion and it was a weak one at that.

I frowned, the grin disappearing as I quickly applied it to her chest and shoulder, not bothering to clean away the blood, this would only be temporary to wade off infection. I pulled a slave from another pouch on my belt and smothered it over the gashes. This would have to do for now.

I got to my feet quickly and went to one of the abominations I had slain to retrieve my dagger, it still being imbedded in it´s skull, once I pulled it free I returned to the short brown haired elf girl, not wanting to leave her alone for long, and just stared at her.

She was dainty even for an elf, a bosmer, and she smelled off. The poisonous scent from before returning to the forefront of my mind... she was sick? I pulled my mouth piece down angrily, uncovering my mouth and nose, a deep frown marred my features as the full force of her scent filled me, my eyes creasing with worry before I caught myself. Why was I worried about her? I did not know her, did I?

A fearsome growl filled the room and drowned out the mages chanting breaking my line of though, I turned swiftly at the sound and once again held my daggers tightly at my side, I had forgotten about the ogre. How was that even possible?

It was still fighting against the blond nord, its large form slowly overpowering him. He would need some assistance, I glanced back at the small elf as I ran toward the beast before focusing all my attention on it.

The warrior watched me curiously as I placed myself quietly behind the giant beast, his shield protecting him from the ogres massive hands as it tried to swipe the blond man to the side to in vain. The beast was large and, for the amount of attacks the blond man had delivered, it was still fairly undamaged.

We would need to attack it´s less scaled parts, it´s chest or it´s unprotected joints. However, the horned beasts large arms and pointed claws kept the blond at bay, leaving him to block with his shield and attack when he was able, which wasn´t that often.

I watched his shoulders shake from the force as I pulled my daggers tightly against my chest and dropped to the ground, rolling to the side of it´s legs one dagger striking against the back of it´s right knee.

The beast roared at the shallow wound angriliy, leg buckling slightly. The ogre turned rapidly, its large arm rushing toward me in one foul sweep, forcing me to jump back out of the way.

I quickly gathered my bearings and weaved out of the way again as it decided to focus on me. Its arms swung wildly trying to knock me down, I glanced behind me and, seeing the bosmes crumpled not too far away, I growled refusing to let it get close to the bosmer, I wouldn´t let it hurt her.

I stabbed downward my blade meeting thr ogres large hand and piercing through it. The beast reared back, roaring in pain while it held its palm. I rushed forward, the nord doing the same from behind the ogre.

The warrior took this time to deliver a harsh hit on the things knee pit, blood glooping out of the sliced tendon, the giant fell to its knee. A small smile played on my lips as I saw the nord ready another attack, his sword held high before bringing it down with force.

I readied both of my blades and dashed forward as the beast arched its back in pain, pouncing up daggers gleaming in the light before they dug into the beasts large neck. A shriek tore from it´s lips as I pulled them down his thick skin, blood gushed out and covered my arms.

I dogded its haphazoured attempts to grab me, pulling my blades out one after the other only to sink them into its with eyes with all my strength. As the beast roared yet again, my feet struggled to find friction against it´s smooth chest, leaving me unable to pull my daggers free and I swore my undead heart started beating just to stop again.

One of it´s hands managed to take hold of my leg and I held onto my deeply imbeded daggers for life. But it wasn´t enough, the beast ripped me from it´s body, daggers and all. I blindly slashed at it´s arm as it swung me around in an attempt to be set free before it turned me into nothing but a smuge on the ground and sent praise to Nocturnal´s luck that the warrior let out a battle cry as he leapt forward, long sword plunging into the beasts upper back, it´s large hands unable to stop him as they were too occupide with me.

The beasts arms went limp, my leg freed from it´s clawed grip and I rolled to the side as I was dropped to the ground the beast following shortly after me, my short blond hair mussed and the hood was left pooling my neck.

I watched as the massive creature collapsed onto the floor the warrior looking like a knight as he pulled his sword free of the things back with an unbelieving smile. He must have severed the spinal colum. This beat was unbelievably hard to kill.

"Well, that was _fun_ " he chuckled sarcasticly keeping a weary eye on me as I went to clean the blood off of my daggers only to watch as it slowly dissapeared, turning to dust much like the large beast that lay dead next to me but moments ago. My eyes widended, it just dissapeared... evaporating into the air. The smaller melted creatures were still here, having been born of mage flesh and remaining bound to this relm.

What was that? Never had I seen such a thing. Only summoned creatu- it was a spirit?

"I don´t believe we´ve met... "I looked over to the warrior briefly, he was watching me out of the corner of his eye a grimance tugging at his lips as I blatenly ignored him in favor of returning to the small elf on the ground that I felt the need to help.

It was maddening I decided, that I felt so compelled to protect this girl. I didn´t know her, of that I was sure and I had no particular reason to care for her but I found myself doing so regardless of everything.

I heard the blond gasp behind me, his eyes following my path as I knelt by the elf. "Neria, oh Maker no... _WYNN!_ ". I heard the heavy foot falls of the warrior as he ran towards us, my hands were covering her chest again the elfs blood seeping through the salve.

He was getting too close, much too close. My head snapped up in a viscious snarl halting him in his tracks at my red eyes and tense posture. The elderly mage came up behind the warrior and placed a calming hand on his armored shoulder, she looked at the both of us in concern.

"Alistair, check on Irving. I shall see to Neria" the warrior pursed his lips, his steel gaze never leaving mine. "Alistair it will be alright" with a stiff nod the blond nord left, sending one last worried glance towards his companions before going to the Enchanters side.

I hissed as the old mage kneeled on the other side of the small mer, my hands pressing harder against the gashes in her pale skin. _Protect her,_ the voice whispered again but why, why did I need to protect this elf?

My bloodied gloved hands were grasped by the old wrinkled hands of the mage. She only hesitated briefly as she caught sight of my sharp teeth, ignoring my threatining hiss.

"Don´t worry deary, she will be just fine " her words reasurred me as I saw the mages hands glow a soft blue, she was a healer... she could help. The hiss died on my lips as the mage pulled my hands away from the elf and I couldn´t stop the sigh of relief that escaped me as she wiped away the salve, replacing it with her glowing hands.

The deep wound was less angry than before and had stopped bleeding so profusly but as soon as the healer got to work the gashes slowly knit itself back together leaving it puffy and raw but sealed.

The grey haired woman didnt say another word to me, it seemed that the practice was draining her as I noticed her eyes flicker now and then, almost as if she was losing energy. The same clean crisp smell appeared, it was the smell of magic? I sighed, mages.

I stood up slowly and properly took in the surrondings; tall brick walls and columns that seemed to reach the heavens, empty rooms and birght tiles. It was different to what I was used to, no wooden floors or creaky staircases, it was all much more solid.

I noticed the warrior, the mage had called him Alistair, walk over to us with an elderly man with dark grey hair and beard leaning heavily on him, two other robed men behind them. Both limping.

I wondered what exactly had happened, I had been in a cave not long ago and now I was here, in an unfamiliar room with people I have never seen before. Where even is here? How did I get here? What in the name of the Divines is going on here?!

"We should head down to the main floor now, to inform Gregoir there is no need for the Right of Annulment" The healer said, standing up slowly and walking over to the rest of the mages, and the warrior.

She stopped next to me and, with a hand on my shoulder said "You can carry her, her wounds are healed but she will not wake for some time yet" And offered me a naturing smile. I didnt return it, instead pulling up my hood back over my head, hiding my eyes as the others got closer.

The warrior looked like he was going to protest as I knelt down to the elf but thought better of it while I carefully picked her up, gently holding her in my arms, almost scared that I might hurt her. It was true, she was tiny and quite frail, even for a mer.

I follwed the rest of the group down countless stairs, occasionally looking at the small brunnette in my arms, hopeful her eyes would open and maybe, just maybe she could explain what happened to me.

I ignored those around me for the most part, aware of another armored nord joining us on the way down. He was similair to Alistair in a sence, but wore even bulkier armore with a flaming sword imprinted on the chest piece of his armor.

He watched all of the mages with narrowed eyes and kept himself between the mages and I, he was protective of the little mer in my arms and would occasionly glance back at us as we got closer to the lower levels of this tower. I believe they called it a Circle, it resembled the Collages but also greatly differed from it.

My eyes lifted from the limp body in my arms, there were voices up ahead. They were starined, echoing off of the empty stone halls and a majority of the voices were young and scared. Children? Why were there children here?

My grip tightened as those around me perked up hearing the voices themselves. We passed through a threshold and found ourselves in a large room, there were mages everywhere most of them were young probably having seen only ten to thirteen summers but some of the were even younger than that and I found myself frowning.

All of them were thin and pale, almost sickly looking. Didnt these people get fed? The thought worried me if only for the fact that the girl in my arms resembled them greatly in that aspect. She was probably a student here learning the ways of magic.

Alistair and Irving went over to the heavy wooden doors leading into the next room. The mage that healed the elf in my arms glanced at me one last time before going over to the opening doors.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Waiting

The sun was setting by the time we reached their small camp, tents circled a large fire pit in the middle of a clearing and a much smaller fire could be seen off to the side where a scantily clad woman sat watching them from her own tent. There was another stood at the entrance, he was tall, much taller than myself and any altmer I had ever seen. His shoulders broad, his skin grey and hair white as snow. He was silent as we passed him, watching us with amethyst eyes his lips in a thin line.

If only all orcs were so silent.

The tower was a place I found myself not wanting to return to, the small pieces of conversation I caught between Alistair and Knight Commander Gregoir were worrying. Mages were _watched_ here, supervised at all times like a threat, they were prisoners in their own home. _By the Gods_ , one of them even suggested they all be killed, slaughtered out of fear of being corrupt by Deadra. Magic wasn't the danger there, it was those who kept them chained that would be the ultimate cause of rebellion. No one liked being controlled to such an extent.

I found myself scowling at Alistair the warrior, he had taken the elf girl after we left the tower with promise of the mages help. I received concerned looks from those around us when he had taken her from me, and the only reason I didn't stab him in the eye was because of Wynn. She had levelled me with a look that I couldn't comprehend but I knew that as a healer she wouldn't put someone in danger. Not intentionally anyway.

As soon as he placed the elf in her tent, the largest one among them all, the warrior turned towards me eyes narrowed and his stance stiff. He looked ridiculous in his attempt to be intimidating. I smirked and stepped closer to him in an aggressive manner, making him jump slightly .I chuckled darkly as he walked away to the campfire muttering something incoherent about temperamental demons.

While the others clearly had jobs to do around camp; cook, clean, retrieve firewood... I had not been given a task by them presumably because they didn't know what to do with me, so I simply sat atop a stump in front of the elf's tent and picked up a small piece of wood from the ground, gently cutting it into a shape with one of my daggers. I gently carved the wood in slow precise cuts.

The elderly mage watched me from afar, as did a small red-haired nord that had joined the group when we exited the tower. I would glance at them from time to time and they would immediate avert there gaze... silly humans. It seems where ever I had ended up, nobody here had a backbone. Except that blasted dog. It´s ears were plastered against its small head every time it so much as looked at me, it was a war hound, tight muscles bound under its short fur. It sat on the opposite side of the elf's tent ,watching me and growling whenever it thought I was leaning to close to its masters tent.

The red haired nord and the warrior were talking over the boiling pot, preparing their group dinner. Alistair was recounting the events of the tower to her, she had stayed with the younger mages to protect them with the war hound in case more Deadra appeared while he and the others pushed forward into the tower.

"Spirit, a word if you will " it was the elderly mage who spoke, mentioning me over to where she sat on a chopped down log that I had no doubt the orc placed by the fire. I stood leaving the half-finished wooden carving on the stump I had been sitting on, the dogs ears perked up as I moved further away from where the elf was resting and finally started to relax. I cocked a brow at the animal amused before sauntering over to Wynn, sitting a respectable distance from her without being rude. I wouldn't want to enrage the only healer this group had.

I glanced at Alistair and Leliana from the corner of my eye, they were both out of their armour now and were cooking stew. The warrior complained good naturedly about it not being a uniform grey before he realized I had sat down close by, Leliana just giggled as she added a light purple herb stating that this was better. I wondered briefly if the herb she added was Nightshade, an attempt to rid themselves of my presence, either way I wasn't worried. I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon I don't think.

The mage cleared her throat, my eyes returning to her as she spoke " I had a question about you're ... presence here " her hesitation made my brow furrow and I turned my head in her direction. I gave her my full attention even as my own questions began to rise. Why was I here?

"You helped us atop the tower but I am not sure as to why, I was hoping you could shed some light on this" I noticed both the warrior and red head silence as they waited for my response but I found myself pausing, I didn't know these people, didn't even know why I did what I did or how I got here. Perhaps we could help each other.

"I will answer your question if you answer mine, mage. An answer for an answer" I countered bluntly, I had my own questions that I needed answers to. Alistair groaned as Wynn nodded and her lips thinned "Very well".

Satisfied, I answered "I was being attacked so I defended myself. The fact that my actions helped you was of no consequence to me" the mage frowned at this as did the others listening, my words were blunt but truthful. At the time I only reacted to the situation at hand, I also decided to forgo mentioning this want, no, this need to protect the elf.

"Typical of a demon, we should have left her at the Circle for the Templars to deal with" I growled at the warriors words, they thought I was an entity, a _spirit_ from the dead world and he wanted to leave me to those keepers of mages. "I am no _demon_ " I practically spat the word, I may be a monster but I was not dead ... not completely, not yet. Alistair stood up then, his fists clenched "Then how do you explain appearing out of thin air surrounded by mages and abominations! You said so yourself, you don't care if we live or die. You only wanted _her_ , didn't you? "

Anger flared through me at his accusation "Without me she would have died " the thought of just leaving that small frail mer on the ground to fend for herself made my stomach churn and twist, I _couldn't_ just leave her there ,even if I didn't know why exactly. Alistair's contorted expression faltered at the mention of his comrade's close call with death and I found myself disliking the lingering memory of her limp form on the ground.

"I do not pretend to be a holy saint nor a raving monster I only wanted to protect _her!_ " I was standing now as well, I wanted to hurt him, make him pay for his absurd incriminations against me. He didn't even know what I was and yet he had already decided I was a demon preying on the dainty elf.

Wynn stood up slowly, putting herself between the two of us "There are more than just demons in the Fade, Alistair." The commotion brought the dark haired and golden eyed nord closer to us, curious as to what caused the loud dispute. "It is full of both benevolent and malevolent beings and I believe our new friend is of the former" Wynne continued glancing between the both of us with wrinkled old eyes.

Healers were often wise, having seen much chaos and pain in their life times I didn't doubt that Wynn fell into such a category. Alistair also seemed to understand this and backed down, his shoulders slumping in defeat under the older mages gaze. He huffed and sat back down next to Leliana, who placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She hadn't said anything throughout the exchange but I wouldn't be surprised if she had wanted to, her silence meant that she didn't want to over step any boundaries. She was cautious and offered the warrior a distraction instead, the stew was coming along nicely.

The elder mage turned to me "I believe you had a question of your own...?" I watched the warrior for a moment longer before regarding the healer, eyes catching those of amber as I turned with narrowed eyes. We had yet another listener it seemed, though I doubted she would cause such a hassle as Alistair had, she appeared to be more curious than cautious. I was glad the mage had resumed our previous conversation, it distracted from the fire still burning in my veins at that _idiots_ accusations.

"My thanks" I nodded to Wynn, she had stopped the dispute before anything more _permanent_ could happen to him. Though I doubt she knew what she had stopped. A gentle smile pulled at her lips as I continued with my question "Why am I here? ".

It was a question that had been plaguing me but could not find the answer to .There was no reason I could think of that warranted a Deadric Lord or Prince to send me to these people, I had not angered them nor was I in a position to offer assistance to any of their needs and it wasn´t know of them to send an assassin of all people to aid them, that was more the Dragonborn´s job. It was also safe to presume an Aedra had not sent me, they hadn't intervened in a mortal's life since the creation of Nirn.

She looked surprised at my question before looking at her new leader's tent in thought, her eyes flickering to me after a moment of hesitation. "I believe you were ... summoned here by Surana, she had a scroll in here possession taken from Irvin-" I stood abruptly, whether it was shock or pure disbelief I didn't know. All I knew that it was _impossible_ to summon me, it shouldn't have been possible ... this was madness!

"Summoned you say? And from a scroll no less ... I find that hard to believe "I leaned back on my heels. Summoning one such as I would be difficult but I suppose it wouldn't be impossible. However the only similar case I could think of was Lucien and he was a ghost, an immortal spirit not a mortal like myself. Well, almost mortal.

"The Fade is full of things we cannot yet explain, I believe you are one of them "Wynn said it slowly as if explaining it to a child, her tone almost patronizing but also caring and compassionate. I could only presume this Fade was the spirit realm, I hoped it was their name for Sovengard and not the Void.

"It is not uncommon for Spirits to be involved in day to day occurrences, but I don't pretend to understand the exact circumstances of your appearance" She continued, before smiling somewhat deviously "Now for another question; where do you believe you came from?" She prodded.

I looked at her incredulously, could she not tell that I am a Nord? Though I suppose with my Dark Brotherhood armour on she would not be able to tell, my face hidden in the shadows of my cowl and mask. I thought about the nature of her question for a moment, and if my answers should be honest. She has been forthcoming with me so far, it would be unfair to not return the favour.

"Not here it seems "I smirked, I answered truthfully and I was sure she could hear the mirth in my voice as she scowled lightly. Chuckling I elaborated "I hail from Skyrim... "Wynn's frown only deepened at the name as she narrowed her eyes, searching my own for some sort of uncertainty, she has expected a different answer then. Her not recognising Skyrim was not very odd, perhaps I was mistaken and she was an Imperial or Breton either way I had met others that did not know of it until they were there in the icy heartland themselves. Though it did bring my next question to mind "If we are not there then where are we?" I asked hesitantly.

"How curious" She whispered to herself, before returning her focus to me and our conversation "We are in Fereldan, Spirit, in Thedas." she responded casually making me frown, it was as though she answered out of courtesy like my question had only been asked because she had asked me the same. Under that belief she expected me to know where I was and that worried me. I hoped this Thedas was part of another province, hopefully High Rock or Cyrodill, they had Sanctuaries I could seek refuge in if things ended badly here. Now that I thought about it, it seemed unlikely, none of these travellers recognized my armour. The red and black known to most provinces as being part of an assassin's guild.

This was troubling.

"Could you tell me more about this Skyrim?" She prodded me further more intent on discovering more about where I came from than anything else at the moment. I narrowed my eyes frowning and decided not to go into detail about my homeland.

The mages eyes glistened in the dim light from the fireplace, curiosity and intrigue waiting for my answer. "Skyrim is the home of the nords, it´s as a cold wasteland filled with beasts ..." I trailed off believing it to be enough for now, if she or another in this group wanted to know more they could ask later when the elf has awoken.

The mages lips thinned in thought as she mulled over my words, she looked intrigued and slightly unsure of what to think. I looked out to the sea catching sight of the College and my next question.

"What was that place?" I asked still looking over the lake towards the tall tower protruding from the sea, it was an odd place for one to learn magic so closed off from the world. Wynn smiled at the question seemingly knowing how to answer " The Circle of Magi is where mages are taken to learn of their magical powers and how to control them, it is- " the healer was interrupted by a scoff, the gold eyed nords opinion differed greatly if her scrunched up expression was anything to go by.

"´Tis nothing more than a gilded cage forced upon those born with magic. The abominations you encountered were only proof that the Circles do not work, mages should not be caged" and the raven beauty finally speaks. But her words had me pausing I understood the danger one could be to others if they were a mage having fought many in my line of work , they were very powerful but for them to be caged is ... is unheard of. Barbaric even.

The way they spoke of magic and those who utilized it made me realize that not all here were born with the potential to become a mage. I myself only knew of two very basic spells, would they cage any who possessed an inclination for magic use? Were they so afraid that they would cage anyone in attempt to control what is uncontrollable?

"Morrigan" Wynn scolded "Not all mages are _forced_ into abominations, we need the Circles to assure possession is not chosen. Those at the Tower were not given the option of choosing" Those melted abominations I fought were once mages turned into monsters by possession , what had happened at the tower was not only unfortunate but deemed necessary to some of those who were trapped. They felt they had no other choice.

"The mages confined to that _tower_ were too weak to resist, if they had been allowed freedom and self-restraint rather than being watched and controlled constantly by Templars ... " The golden eyed mage, Morrigan, trailed off with a sigh. Her tone was one of pity and suggested she had talked about this before with another, Alistair probably. I couldn't help but agree with Morrigan, what happened had undoubtedly been born out of rebellion.

"It was inevitable in a sense, "I mused frowning the more I thought about it" that someone being controlled would try to be free" I remembered being trapped once, caged like an animal. It was not a pleasant experience and when I was freed my captors did not live long. With that said I gave one last look to Wynn before walking back to the mer´s tent and taking a seat back on the stump intent on finishing my carving until she woke.


End file.
